Dataville

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Whether you love it or hate it, AI is everywhere now. No one will stop talking about it, as much as you might like them to. But less attention is paid to the data labelers who work on these models and their training sets: the very real humans who build datasets, train models, and participate in the broader assembly line that leads to the shiny new products being announced on a near-daily basis. These labelers can have as much influence on what a model does as the highly-paid research scientists designing them, but they're largely invisible to the broader public. This is an opportunity to step into their shoes.

Dataville is a visual novel set in a dystopian present where large companies rely on the unseen, underpaid labor of gig workers to train massive AI models. As the world faces a new refugee crisis from outer space, you play as a newly-hired data labeler at a company that sells facial recognition software used on these new arrivals. The choices you make inform how the AI behaves, which in turn shapes the world. Even the smallest player in this pipeline can make a difference. Will you foment revolution? Strive for equality? Rise the corporate ranks?

There are many forking paths to travel, but first, a more pressing concern: you have to make rent.

This is an alpha build of the game, so unforeseen errors may occur. If you encounter a bug or have comments for us, feel free to leave them on this page or fill out our bug report form.

Dataville was developed by Brent Bailey, Arnab Chakravarty, Henry Baum, Lifei Wang, and Ian McNeely,  with music by Matt Ross. Development was supported by a Mozilla Creative Media Award.